Why would they want to kill us?” I asked with a sinking feeling.

He shrugged. “They are not… How can I put it? They are not a delicate species, like you seem to be.”

I flashed him a withering look. I was tired of aliens calling me weak. “You should never judge a book by its cover.”

“Well, how else are you supposed to choose one to read?” Cambien mused.

A thought came to me. “Wait, which Fed outpost are you talking about? Do you know the location of one?” I wanted to know if he meant the same one Navan had mentioned.

“My word, you have a lot of questions. Good thing I’m the patient type.” Cambien chuckled. “I promise there will be time to answer them all later, but right now, your friend needs you,” he added softly, all semblance of his drunkenness gone. “We should go.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“I should hope that you do,” he replied with a grin.

As I followed Cambien out of the bar, my head reeled. I felt exhausted, my brain bombarded with information. Who were the Titans, and how could we reach them? More to the point, how would we stop them from killing us? If they were that volatile, maybe they weren’t the right kind of people to ally ourselves with. Then again, beggars couldn’t be choosers. Plus, if them joining our cause somehow created a domino effect, prompting more species to join us, then that could only be a good thing, right?

Against all my expectations, Cambien had managed to renew my sense of hope. I mean, I wasn’t quite willing to forgive the way he had touched my face without my consent, but now didn’t seem like the time to have an argument about it. I could school him in proper conduct later.

Reaching the Pyros’ hospital, we descended into the sweltering heat of the underground ward once more. Cambien had returned the jar of nano-insects to the inside of his tunic, but I could hear them knocking against the glass as we entered the silent room. Shaking them so hard seemed to have pissed them off.

The others were sitting on the vacant bed beside Bashrik’s, the side curtain pulled open to reveal his new opaleine crust. I shuddered to see what he’d become, knowing he was still conscious in there. Navan, however, wasn’t sitting with the others; he was walking up and down along the far wall, his hands balled into fists. Nervous faces looked over at us as we approached. Navan skidded to a halt, his expression relieved.

“Riley, you’re back,” he sighed, prompting Angie to smirk.

“Just like I said she would be,” she chided. “Captain Anxious has been burning a hole in the hospital floor for the past half hour,” she added wryly. Navan grimaced with embarrassment.

“I haven’t been! I just—I was just wondering what was taking so long,” he said, eyeing Cambien with distrust.

“She went to get Cambien, just like she said,” Lauren replied. “And look, here he is! Nothing to worry about.”

Cambien grinned, draping his arm around my shoulders. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. We’ve been keeping each other very busy at the local watering hole.” He winked at Navan as I shrugged him angrily off my shoulders.

“Behave yourself,” I snapped, shoving him in the arm.

Navan lunged forward, his hands still balled into fists. I stopped him, pressing my palms against his chest and looking up into his eyes. I didn’t need his help when it came to lecherous creeps. I’d encountered enough of them in high school to hold my own against them.

“He’s winding you up, Navan,” I said quietly. “He’s an idiot. He’s not worth your anger.”

“What were you doing at a bar?” he asked, his tone slightly defensive.

I sighed. “We were just talking. He might act like a complete tool, but he’s got some useful information inside that scaly head of his,” I explained. “I’ll fill you all in later.”

“She was certainly thorough in her interrogation of me,” Cambien chimed in, evidently determined to rile Navan up for his own amusement. “Although I can’t say I’m not disappointed in your choice of men. If you were looking for a hothead, I’d have volunteered my services. I can’t imagine this specimen keeps you very warm at night,” he remarked, smirking all the while.

I rolled my eyes. “He keeps me plenty warm. Now will you get on with what you came here to do?” I flashed Cambien a warning look.

“For you, anything,” he replied, blowing me a kiss.

Navan’s face twisted in anger. I could feel his heart thundering beneath my hand, but I wasn’t about to let them fight it out here, not when Bashrik was still in danger.

“You behave yourself, too,” I murmured, moving off to Bashrik’s bedside.

I glanced down at the figure in the bed, and my stomach lurched. Petrified strangers were one thing, but when it was someone you knew… The sight was horrifying. The opaleine had fully taken over his body, every part of him weirdly melded together into one mass of stone. Where his features had been, there were just lumps and indents, marking out a nose, a mouth, a pair of eyes.

“Since he’s only been infected for a short time, do you think he’ll have lost any memories when he wakes up?” Lauren asked with a morbid curiosity I shared.

“Don’t tell me this one is your lover?” Cambien sighed with disappointment.

Lauren flushed pink. “No! He is not my lover!”

The Draconian grinned. “Ah, then he must be yours,” he said, flicking his wrist in Angie’s direction. She was about to respond, when he cut her off, answering Lauren’s question instead. “I told you before, it varies from patient to patient. Some are less susceptible to memory loss, while others can lose great chunks of their past, not remembering the faces of their parents, their friends, their children. You will have to wait and see which side your friend lands on.”

With that, he pulled out the jar of nano-insects. Their wings thrummed against the glass. He was about to unscrew the lid, when Navan reached out to stop him, his hand fastening across the Draconian’s wrist.

“What are you doing? Those are the things that did this in the first place! Are you trying to infect me, too?” he growled.

“Get those things away from Bashrik!” Angie shrieked, swiping at invisible bugs in the air.

“It’s fine!” I said, calming them. “These insects are reverse-engineered. I know they look like the plague-carriers, but they’re the opposite. They’re the antidote-carriers.”

Lauren nodded. “They deliver the antivirus in the same way they deliver the virus?”

“Precisely.” Cambien sighed. “Now, if you could remove your hand from my wrist, I can get on with saving your friend’s life.” A moment of tension bristled between Navan and Cambien, amber eyes glaring at slate eyes.

Eventually, Navan removed his hand, allowing Cambien to screw the lid off the jar of nano-insects. The Draconian pursed his lips, giving a high-pitched whistle that called out two of the insects. Fluttering in the air, they awaited their next command. Again, Cambien gave a whistle, and the two creatures swooped down to Bashrik’s stiff, frozen body.

With a scraping sound that sent chills up my spine, they burrowed into the stone casing, disappearing beneath the opaleine crust. We looked at each other nervously, not knowing what to expect. Would it all melt off? Would it break apart? Would it dissolve, like it had never been there in the first place? I’d never seen anything like this before; there was no way of preparing for it.

“Is it working?” I whispered.

Cambien shrugged. “There is no way of knowing until it happens.”

Five unbearably tense minutes later, the stone began to crack, splinters appearing in the surface. Jagged lines connected with one another, and chunks broke off, the crumbling stone falling to the mattress. Gradually, bits of gray skin showed through. The slow movement of Bashrik’s limbs caused the rest to flake away, and it all fell to pieces around him.

Bashrik shot upright, startling us all. “What the—!” he cried, shaking his head like a wet dog. What was left of the opaleine tumbled off his body, several shards flying out of his hair, narrowly missing the rest of us. Even so, a few dusty specks remained, a chalky residue covering his skin.

“Bashrik? Do you know who you are?” Angie asked, testing the waters. I could tell we were all anxious to see if there were any side effects.

He smiled. “I’m Bashrik. You just said so.”

Angie grimaced. “Do you know who we are?” she tried again.

“You’re Angie, that’s Lauren, that’s Navan, and that’s Riley,” he replied, looking confused. “And you’re Cambien, the one who made this happen,” he added, brushing some of the remaining dust from his arms.

“You remember me?” Angie whispered.

“Of course I do,” he murmured back, “and I promised I wouldn’t keep you waiting any longer.”

With a shriek of pure happiness, Angie flung herself at Bashrik. His arms wrapped around her tightly, his lips kissing her forehead, leaving some of the opaleine dust where he had grazed her skin. She held his face in her hands as she pulled away, planting a smacker right on his lips, surprising him in the best possible way.

It appeared we’d been lucky. Bashrik hadn’t forgotten any of us, nor did he seem to have lost any memories of who he was. It was an intense relief to see him back with his mind in one piece.

“I hate to break up the romance, but we just need to ask a few more questions,” Navan said apologetically, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry.” Angie blushed, clambering off Bashrik.

“Do you know where you are?” Navan asked.

Bashrik nodded. “Zai. Where else would I be?” he replied easily enough.

“And do you know what we’re doing here on Zai?” Lauren cut in.

“We’re preparing to leave, unless we can come up with a solution to the opaleine corruption,” he answered, though his words puzzled me. Something was off.

“On the Vanquish, you mean?” Lauren pressed, her expression concerned.

Bashrik gave a soft chuckle. “No, not on your ship. We would never fit on your ship—there are too many of us,” he explained. “Although, now that you mention it, Angie, you and I will have to discuss whether you will be following me or going with the others, back to Navan’s home planet. I don’t wish to be without you.”

Angie looked torn. What Bashrik was saying was very sweet, but something was clearly muddled in his memories. He had used the word “we” as a pronoun, in relation to the Draconians… Bashrik thought he was one of them.

“Bash, what are you talking about?” Navan asked, utterly confused.

“We can’t all fit on your ship. It’s faster and far superior, but it cannot carry an entire species,” he explained. “I was just thinking, perhaps you could all come with us, instead of going back to that cold planet of yours, Navan.”

Navan shook his head. “That’s your planet, too, Bash. You’re from Vysanthe.”

Bashrik burst out laughing. “You must be kidding. I would never set foot in that place, not after what they did to us! You’re an exception to the rule, Navan, and I cannot hold you responsible for the actions of your people, but you must be out of your mind if you think I’d go near that planet. If that’s where you insist on going, then I’ll be sorry to part ways with you all.”

“Look at your skin and your wings, Bash. You are a coldblood!” Navan insisted, his face panicked. “You’re exactly like me, Bash. We’re brothers!”

“Brothers in arms, yes, but you are a Vysanthean and I am a Draconian. How could we be brothers?” Bashrik countered, giving Navan an incredulous look.

“Bashrik, you’re a Vysanthean. Look,” Angie interjected softly, taking Bashrik’s hands and raising them to his face, making him see the gray color.

Confusion washed over him. “Well, this is just some cruel trick you’re playing, to try and fool me into coming with you,” he said firmly, after a lengthy pause. “You think you can convince me that I’m a coldblood so I’ll come back to Vysanthe with you, instead of traveling with my people.”

“We’re not. This isn’t a trick. You’re just a bit mixed up about who you are,” I offered, only to receive his angry glare.

“I know who I am, Riley,” he snapped back. “I am Bashrik. I am a Draconian, and Zai is my home. I’ll continue to help you with the opaleine, and with your gift of our high priestess’s most honored vial of blood, as I have promised to do, but once that’s done, I will not be coming with you.”

I realized it was going to take some convincing to get Bashrik to see the truth of what he was and leave Zai with us, but for now, he had reminded me of one important thing. We needed to get the vial of blood as soon as possible, before our five days were up. Orion would be waiting, and we had a lot to do in a short span of time. First, we needed to start work on reversing the corrupted opaleine and get the blood itself. Second, we needed to deal with Pandora. Then, we needed to figure out a way of fooling Orion and Brisha, so they didn’t immediately execute us for insubordination. I wasn’t sure which would be the more impossible task.

“It would seem your friend landed somewhere between compos mentis and completely baffled.” Cambien chuckled, evidently delighted by the mix-up. “At least he remembers who you are, which is more than can be said for most.”

Navan whirled around, getting in Cambien’s face. “Did you know this was going to happen?”

“I told you, it varies,” Cambien replied, squaring off. The two of them were evenly matched in height and muscle, but I wasn’t about to underestimate a Draconian’s strength, nor let them brawl in the middle of a hospital, with a very confused Bashrik looking on.

Steeling myself, I slipped in between them, pushing them apart with all the force I could muster. “Stop it, both of you! This isn’t going to do anyone any good. Right now, we need to listen to Bashrik and focus on our mission. We’re running out of time.” Keeping his eyes on me, Navan backed away from Cambien, who looked unbearably smug. “You can wipe that smirk of your face, too, Cambien. This is the part where the two of you have to work together, so I suggest you start acting like a team!” I chided.

“Don’t forget who we’re doing this for,” Lauren agreed. “If we can stop the corruption, you get your planet back, and we’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”

Cambien laughed. “I don’t have any hair.”

“Stop being a smartass. Nobody’s impressed,” Angie added, her tone scathing.

Suitably cowed, Cambien let out a weary sigh. “Very well. I suppose we should get going. If I have to work with this gray-skinned monster, I’d prefer to get it out of the way as soon as possible, regardless of the reasons,” he remarked haughtily. “You ready to kill a bunch of your own kind, Navan? I suppose it makes no difference to someone like you who happens to be on the receiving end of your blade.”

Navan scowled. “Let’s just get on with this, shall we? In silence,” he said. The pair of them headed for the entrance to the hospital ward, each vying to be in front of the other.

The rest of us were about to follow, Angie and me helping Bashrik out of the bed, when Lauren froze in her tracks, turning back to us with a despondent look. Looking across Bashrik, I saw the same expression on Angie’s face. Navan had also stopped in the doorway, Cambien going on ahead.

“What’s the matter?” I whispered.

Angie sighed. “Pandora wants us to come back to the ship for a debrief.”